Imagine that you are a costal farmer in India during the late 14th century. Amidst the daily routine of your life, the monsoon seasons, the planting and farming, a foreign people come and invade your nation. Once these people have arrived with their new goods and ideas, they begin to assimilate into your culture. Yet, you soon realize that these new buildings begin to show up throughout the countryside. Soon afterwards, the foreigners force you to plant a certain type of crop, and prices shoot up due to these new buildings. As a result of these foreigners and the ripple effect they have had on your small countryside community, you find yourself near starvation, having lost much profit because the crops they wanted you to plant do not fare so well in your area. In addition, while others work at these new buildings and continue to make more money, prices sore and some of the most basic needs in your life become too expensive for you to purchase. As incredulous as this story sounds, it is actually a very common story because it is what occurred to numerous rural farmers when the Far East British company came to India and began a mass industrialization of the nation. Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya as well as The Real Durwan a short story by Jhumpa Lahiri both contain the main theme of industrialization and its harmful effects on the communities they occur in.
Nectar In A Sieve tells the story of a simple peasant women in a primitive village in India and documents her struggles through the years, particularly her fight against industrialization and the ruin it leaves her family in. The industrialization comes in the form of a tannery, which instantly provides numerous jobs for the community. Initially the factory seems to be a wonderful addition to the economy and the town, but it soon becomes evident that the tannery is the main catalyst for pain and suffering throughout the book.
